It’s snowing in the Alps since Saturday evening. The perfect storm of November 5th (click on the video above) brought fresh snow to the complete Alps. Most of the snow came down in the main alpine ridge. Ski resorts on the border between Switzerland, Italy and Austria currently report the most snow. The good news is that it will keep on snowing for a while.
Austria
Sölden is reporting 40-60 cm of fresh snow. The glacier is closed to further order due to the large amounts of snow and it is still snowing. Even the village itself is white. You can expect another 5-20 cm of fresh snow between today and Wednesday.
The Stubaier glacier and the Pitztaler glacier are also reporting huge amounts of fresh snow. The snow cover has grown with 90 cm! The Austrian glacier resorts really hit the jackpot. There’s a solid base and from now on you can enjoy excellent conditions every day. At least when the lifts open again. Everything is closed, due to the large amounts of snow. It is expected that the lifts will open within the next couple of hours.
It’s also dumping south of the main alpine ridge. A lot of snow is reported from Livigno. The pass is still open, but winter tires and/or snow chains are mandatory.
Italy
Same story for the Stelvio Pass. Cars are snowed in and there’s just a huge amount of snow on the road. Snow services are busy to clear the roads. That’s no longer necessary to reach the ski area. Yesterday was the last day that the ski area was open and it is expected to open the lifts again in May.
It took a while before the cold air reached the Dolomites, but once it arrived, the clash of hot and cold air resulted in huge amounts of snow:
Switzerland
The north of Switzerland also had its share. An average of 20-40 cm of fresh snow is reported, but rises quickly to 50 cm up to 2500 meters. Especially Engelberg and the Gotthard region are reporting a lot of snow. On the other hand, there are also ski areas where the wind kicked in. I hope to give you an update on that later today when the sun comes out. The following images are from Engelberg and around. The snow came down deep into the valley.
France
The French Alps got some fresh snow as well. Although they didn’t get as much snow as further east, but the first base came down. The following images are from La Plagne, La Cusaz, Serre Chevalier and Val Thorens. The French southern Alps didn’t get that much. Some snow came down on Saturday, but there were some strong winds on Sunday.
